C-Clamp Rifle Grip: Tacticool or Legit?
The c-clamp rifle grip is talked about a lot. While the c-clamp rifle grip is one way, there are others like holding straight up and down with a vertical grip or the magwell grip. There is also the over exaggerated c-clamp rifle grip. You might have seen people do this. Chris Costa comes to mind as someone who favors the over exaggerated c-clamp rifle grip. What got me onto this topic was a LoadOut Room (SOFREP) article discussing the over exaggerated c-clamp rifle grip. It was said to be
hype basically. They discussed loss of peripheral vision, obstruction of sights, over exposure to vital organs, and comfort as negatives. While I agree on peripheral vision being lost while doing an over exaggerated c-clamp rifle grip and fatigue, the rest not so much. As my buddy Nate Murr has said, if your the first or fastest one to take out a threat using an over exaggerated c-clamp rifle grip then who cares? If you are getting your hits downrange and can sustain that grip, who is anyone to tell you it's wrong? Some people say the c-clamp rifle grip in general is "only for competition" and that it is not a combat style shooting grip. Well I guess they will have to explain that to lot's of the pipehitters overseas right now burning down ISIS. As the SOFREP article stated "Pat McNamara (Former 1SFOD), Kyle Defoor (Former SEAL), Jerry Miculek (competitive shooter), and Mike Pannone (Former 1SFOD) use this shooting style, but only to some degree.".
I personally have used this grip for years. Now the thing to remember is you cannot use the c-clamp rifle grip on all rifles. Do not use it on an AK-47/AK-74 wit your thumb over the gas tube! Particularly if
you run something like an Ultimake Scout Rail. Obviously different guns are designed, well differently. So you cannot do one thing for all guns anyhow. Back to the point. The main point of the c-clamp rifle grip is to pull the gun into your shoulder pocket and to add some downward pressure to mitigate muzzle rise. I use a Gripstop but you can do the same thing, not as comfortable, with a vertical grip or angled forward grip. The Gripstop blows the doors off others on the market with the c-clamp rifle grip because it was designed with it in mind. The variable angle fits the human hand and is designed to do so. Unlike fitting a square peg into a round hole with other grips. So the thumb over bore hold is what helps to mitigate muzzle rise. While I did not initially use the c-clamp rifle grip this way, I have moved to it over the years. I started out with thumbs forward c-clamp rifle grip. While this worked, using the thumb over bore has provided me a more natural feel and better performance. I love wrapping my hand around something resembling my shaft! So natural.
The crazy thing is you can see, as Nate Murr has shown in his research of this style of grip, guys from WW2 with M1 Garands and in the Rhodesian Army with FAL's doing a variant of the c-clamp rifle grip. Is the c-clamp rifle grip for everyone? No. Is the c-clamp rifle grip the only way to shoot? No. In the end it is a way to shoot. If you try it out and like it great. If not, then at least you can say you tried it and it is not for you. Until you tried it though, don't knock it. Bring some data points to the party before you mingle.
